SEGA Acquires New Studio, Invests in Two More

SEGA has acquired development studio Demiurge, and invested in two others, Ignited Artists and Space Ape Games.

The move, according to SEGA, is to bolster “its foothold in the Western market.”

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While SEGA has outright acquired Demiurge, the company now owns a majority share in the San Francisco-based gaming start-up, Ignited Artists. No specifics were given regarding the Space Ape Games deal other than SEGA has made a “strategic investment” in the UK-based studio.

“A top five publisher in Japan, SEGA Networks is investing heavily in the West and with its latest acquisitions and investments, the publisher is further leveraging its global footprint,” says SEGA Networks CEO Haruki Satomi.

“Demiurge underscores our commitment to investing in the West and complements our current roster of US and European mobile studios, including Three Rings and Hardlight. In addition, our strategic investments in Ignited Artists and Space Ape Games solidifies our commitment to publishing quality games across the globe.”

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Demiurge has several AAA titles under its belt – including the PC version of Mass Effect and Borderlands – before making the jump to mobile in 2008. Since then, the company has seen success from the likes of Marvel Puzzle Quest, Arena Kings, and Shoot Many Robots.

"Demiurge and SEGA share a vision for the future of mobile gaming: putting gamers first," says Albert Reed, GM of Demiurge Studios and VP of Product Management at SEGA Networks.

Ignited Artists is currently working on its debut title. At the helm is Danielle Diebler, former Activision vice president Alessandro Tento, and designer Scott Foe. Between them, the three bring four decades of experience to the table, having worked previously at companies like EA, Blizzard, Microsoft Game Studios, and Nokia.

As for Space Ape Games, the partnership sees SEGA bringing the studio’s games to the Japanese market.

“Voluntary retirement will be solicited in the aforementioned businesses to be withdrawn or consolidated and downsized,” said SEGA “while at the same time personnel will be repositioned in Digital Games and growth areas of Group mainly as development personnel, in order to establish a structure which can constantly generate profits. The purpose of these measures is to improve the business efficiency of the Group.”